Explicit instruction is absent because of the necessary requirement that the world be morally ambiguous if people are to truly have free will. The presence of moral ambiguity in the world and the problem of evil is to give all people a choice. God wants humans to love God by choice, and to be free from compulsion. Such is the significance of the story of Christ resisting the three temptations in the desert.
I think that Dostoevsky puts forth the most succinct and beautiful understanding of this difficult concept in The Brothers Karamazov in the chapter The Grand Inquisitor.
I would seriously consider it if I could purchase a headless mac. I know that the G4 cube is out there, but it's a little dated for me now (I do audio work and would love to try Logic, which is probably better suited towards faster systems). I have a nice monitor and thus no real need of a new flat screen display. Either getting one of those new dual core G4s or else one or two G5s for the cost the monitor would have added in would be nice. It'd be nice to see a system that was between the entry level consumer and hardcore user category, either at the same price point or slightly lower than the current flat screen G5 iMacs.
I do have two questions for Mac users: it appears that most Macs don't support >2.1 channel audio unless it's optical. I have a 4.1 system that accepts front and rear 1/4" inputs, and I have no desire to purchase a new audio system just to retain surround sound. Is it the case that Macs don't support this out of box? I know that upgrading to an optical system would be nice, but I don't have the money to do that and retain the same level of audio quality and volume that I have now. I know some PC boards with onboard audio can use the microphone jack as a 2nd phono out for the rear channel, but I'd prefer to keep it since I use the microphone.
Also, how is multilingual support on OS X? I speak / read / write Japanese and I know that while OS X has Japanese support, I haven't been able to find out how exactly it is implemented. Is it similar to the Microsoft IME (where one can type in romaji using an English keyboard), or does it require a Japanese keyboard? Does it have a feature where I can draw kanji to look them up?
Haha, that actually is a good point -- but while we do get the occasional stinker, most of the people who come in this area are normal sized. It tends to be those people who have the will to play DDR, and they seem to be sensible enough to have deoderant. Perhaps Pittsburgh is an anomaly, though. But yes, you do have a reasonable point, because there were some complaints about a particular player smelling not too pleasant. Luckily, I wasn't present at that lan.
I've helped out a bit with some medium sized lans, and the organization that I participated in eventually merged with the Pittsburgh Lan Coalition, whose most recent lans have been rather large (100+ people).
One occurance of note is that at the first larger lan party they held power became a big issue. They had rented out a large area in a hotel and had gotten detailed specifications on power availability, but it ended up not being accurate. The hotel split the cost of generators in order to allow the event to occur. One guy ended up with a burnt motherboard from the flucations, unfortunately.
Another thing to consider is security. At larger events when people's nerves are shot from way too much CS (combined with sleep deprivation), bad situations can develop. Luckily, that hasn't been too big of a problem. However, there has been one occurance of theft. Pittco managed to secure a number of sponsors who donated video cards, games, and other equipment to be given out as prizes. At the most recent lan one person was moving his prize, a set of speakers, out to his car. He went back in to get his computer and when he came back his speakers were nowhere to be found. So perhaps having somebody not only to act as a bouncer but also as an overseer during the takedown phase would be a good idea.
Another security related concern is that you should really be aware of who all is attending, and to have contact information for all persons involved. This is useful in case something bad should happen (perhaps someone destroys another person's computer and then leaves), and also in other possible situations (during one lan a nearby convenience store was robbed at gunpoint, and the police wanted to get contact info for everybody at the facility just in case).
I'm not sure what happened about insurance -- perhaps the hotel included that with the room rental. I really don't know, but you could probably post on their forums and get a response. I do know that prior to merging into Pittco we had to give up having lans at our established facility because of liability concerns. But that facility wasn't exactly a hotel or convention type area, either.
The biggest draw seems to be the tournaments, especially for CS. It's unfortunate that some people leave the event after their clan loses. And being that HL2 will only have CS:Source for its multiplayer aspect, I don't doubt that CS will continue to be a driving force in lan parties. You'd do well to decently manage a tournament for CS, and people will find ways to distract themselves while waiting. I haven't seen many people play RTS's, and if they do it's usually Starcraft. Setting up a TV or projector with DDR also helps to provide some atmosphere, and makes for a fun tournament, too!
It doesn't hurt to have some creative uses for the prizes, too. At the first large lan party we had there was a video card left over (a Radeon 9700, I believe) and it was decided that it would be given to the person with the worst video card. A poor guy with a Geforce 2 MX ended up leaving with a nice upgrade.
For communication, setting up a Teamspeak server and an IRC server seems to work well. The last two large lans haven't had internet access, which wasn't really a big deal for people. most people use it to download pr0n and warez, anyways. Oh yeah -- secure your servers. You'll always end up with one script kiddie who wants to port scan and cause trouble.
For hardware, be sure to test out servers beforehand and ensure that they can adequately handle the load. Good networking equipment is a must. Keep one server as a file server and load it up with all the latest patches that people may need. Some people like to bring laptops and would like to have wireless, but I don't see the point in having more than one computer at a lan party.
Keep the pizza coming. You'll be surprised how much is consumed (and try to keep it warm with an appropriate device, if possible). Drinks like Bawls and Mt. Dew are often well appre
Earlier, the president of Opec said oil prices were at "crazy" levels, but that Opec was powerless to cool the market. "There is no more supply," said Opec president Purnomo Yusgiantoro. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/ 3529976.stm
OPEC has increased oil production to record levels...Petrologistics said all 10 Opec producers have already been producing oil far in excess of official quotas, Middle East Newsline reported. The report said that with the exception of Saudi Arabia, OPEC members have little or no spare capacity left. http://216.26.163.62/2004/me_oil_09_09.html
Indeed, the resource situation is quite poor. Now, some might stick a tinfoil hat on me for mentioning this, but are you familiar with the concept of peak oil? Basically, it's that given all the oil reserves on the planet there is a limit to the amount of oil that can be produced per day, given the deterioration of fields. Oil production follows a bell curve: at first, oil is very easy to get out, with light oil right near the top. As time progresses and that easy to get oil is depleted, the fields must be altered if they are to continue to produce at the same rate, usually by injecting saltwater or other compounds to push the oil upwards. Unfortunately, this also causes rapid degradation as pumps begin to pump more and more water than oil.
Based on research and media reports, the global output of oil is expected to peak around the year 2008. The implications of this are severe, for demand in the world China is escalating at a rapid rate. Consider that not only cars but military machinery run off of petroleum products. Consider that most crop fields in America are so destroyed that they require massive amounts of petroleum based fertilizers and insecticides to maintain production. Consider that interstate commerce is fueled by trucks on oil. How will people get to work from the suburbs? How will food be produced at an adequate rate to meet demand (this is how overpopulation will be addressed)? How will the interdependence of states be altered when goods cannot be transferred?
Rail seems like a good option for transferring people and goods, but the rail system in the US is rather poor. For alternative energy resources there is a great push towards fuel cells - which simply store energy. Furthermore, the primary method of producing hydrogen for these fuel cells is from natural gas, another source that follows the bell curve in production and is already in decline (check your heating bills last year).
To me, preparation for the peak oil phenomenon helps explain a number of US actions in the current and past administrations. Be it securing interests in Iraq, in Georgia (Clinton years - this is a bipartisan problem, of course), wanting to drill in the Alaskan reserve (might not be a tremendous amount long term, but it will make the peak last longer before decline), AIDS money to Africa (and their oil fields)... the foundation of a growing economy is built upon the ability of a nation's people to both produce and consume. Without transportation, food, and the energy requirements that go into the American lifestyle, what will happen to the economy?
Nations traditionally stock up a reserve of oil for the coming winter; however, between the disruption of gulf coast production from hurricanes and the instability of the middle east, this winter could prove to be a difficult one. China is already buying up oil left and right to fuel its growing automobile industry, when they haven't yet realized that the age of the automobile is rapidly coming to a close. Meanwhile, the US secures valuable middle eastern reserves and places them in the hands of American companies, ensuring that if there is a next world war the opposing side will be running on an empty tank.
Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheik Ahmad Fahad al-Ahmad al-Sabah said Wednesday the cartel agreed to the decision to raise output by nearly 4 percent, adding it would take effect Nov. 1... The move will increase OPEC's self-imposed output lim
Ah, that's awesome. I missed that golden age of synthesizer discovery, but I guess my benefit now is the powerful world of soft synths (and the wave of retro synths isn't too bad). Still, I'd love to get into actually making synths. It sounds fun and challenging. Can you recommend any resources for synth design, given a person unfamiliar with electronics? (probably too much to ask!)
Yes, an excellent point. I should have been more specific when stating "other techniques": effects like reverb and acoustic / environment simulators can be used to expand the sound. Yet many electronic musicians will employ a compressor on a drum beat and the result can be a more lively and interesting sound, depending on the characteristics and tweaking of the compressor.
Your comment seems to show a belief in you that music made on traditional instruments and in traditional settings is somehow better than music that uses electronics and mastering. How does a drum machine or synthesizer fail to represent a musician's emotion and feelings? Isn't it just another instrument that expands the possibilities of music present to the musician?
You say that a concert hall possesses a dynamic sound. While I don't know of recordings where I can change my position (live music is another matter entirely), is the skilled architect of a concert hall to be seen as better than the engineer who masterfully uses compression, eq, and other techniques? Aren't they both shaping sound? Perhaps you are only listening to electronic music and not thinking about it? I know from my experience, and the experience of others that I have introduced to classical music, that it takes time to appreciate the subtleties and nuances of sound and form present there. Some people may be surprised to learn that such nuances are present in electronic music, too. Something interesting is that different pieces of electronic equipment have very different characteristics. It's akin to a composer choosing between a number of possible performers or playing in a variety of concert halls.
I know that you didn't state this, but I know that many people think that making electronic music is somehow easier than playing a traditional instrument. Well, take out some keyboards or fire up some soft synths and try to put something together. Not only do you have to be able to play these digital instruments and understand how to express yourself through them, you have to know how to design instruments (adjusting oscillators, applying filters, etc), how to layer instruments properly (so that instruments can be heard properly in a mix), how to engineer the environment (appropriate effects and reverb, in addition to compression), and how to tie everything together (be it stringing together diverse equipment or fooling around with cable connections in Reason). So, an electronic musician -- even though they may be able to put a song together by themselves -- must not only be a musician, but an engineer, an architect, and a conductor (in a sense). Does this make an electronic musician better than a traditional instrumentalist? Is a person a better guitarist because they build their own guitars and venues? I wouldn't say so, but aren't such diverse talents to be respected? It's challenging to create a drum kit, to tweak velocites in a synth bass line, to understand a particular synthesizer enough to engineer powerful sounds from it.
(and yes, I know that wasn't your point in particular, but I figured that I'd take the opportunity to address this rather common issue that does play a role in the traditional vs electronic debate)
I ask these questions as an avid listener of renaissance and baroque music, along with trance and electronica. I use a tube bass preamp, but solid state for the main. I make electronic music with Fruityloops, but I also love my classical guitar. I don't see traditional music as being better than electronic, or vice-versa -- what is to be respected is the skill and expression of the artist: I listen to music for the music, not for how the music was made. If you simply don't like genres of electronica, that's fine -- I don't really like Opera. But to dismiss not only a number of genres, but an entire method of producing music, is to do yourself a great disservice as both a musician and a listener.
You could either have helped me or else made a proper argument in Slashdot's defense. But this sort of response is, unfortunately, typical of the mindset here.
This is a problem that's been occuring more often lately, and despite the fact that in situations like this the people speaking up against biased comments in the news text are often rated high, I still see such things occuring at an unacceptable rate. The message that this sends to me is that Slashdot doesn't care about its readership, and would rather use their news site to espouse their own opinions under the guise of news than treat subjects and matters fairly.
How does your reply help this situation for anybody? My point isn't about whether Real is right or not in the opinions of others. It's about maintaining fairness and journalistic integrity on a news site, and keeping opinions to the public discussion where they can be discussed and appropriately moderated as the community has always done. Are you not concerned with the quality of a site that you rely upon for information?
Ultimately, I see Slashdot as a valuable resource with a dedicated and brilliant community. The comments that I read on articles often rank as important (if not more important than) the articles. It is because I value Slashdot that I voice my distaste when situations like this arise. If anything, my question regarding alternative sites is as much rhetorical as a normal question. Where else can I go for tech news coupled with such a knowledgable community? I'll admit that I was writing a bit out of frusteration in my last post, and I apologize for that. But I still think that my point remains valid: that at first glance I was going to pass up an article that ended up being very informative to me, soley because of an opinion in the headline. Perhaps that's just my fault, but as I said, should there not be a sense of integrity in presenting stories and interviews?
(Perhaps I've simply been trolled, but it would not surprise me if there were many who had the same thoughts as the above poster.)
I wholly agree. I have to admit that after reading that comment in the description I told myself, "Ah, just more Real antics," and was about to skip the story entirely. Yet I decided to read the interview and I found his responses to be excellent. Even after having experienced so many problems with past Real software, I'm willing to give their new services a shot. I think he did a great job explaining what Real's vision is and it's very much helped their image in my mind. Perhaps some people might call that PR, but to me it seemed legitimate and sincere.
It's a shame, because I very much value Slashdot as a resource for keeping up with the latest and most interesting tech news, but I'm seeing more and more of this bullshit that would be better posted as a comment (that can be moderated) than as a description in the story.
I've been reading Slashdot for a number of years now (not my first id) and while I'd hate to leave it, the quality of the site has degraded significantly over time. Can anybody recommend a similar tech site that has some scruples about how they report?
Re:contemporary use of religious language in produ
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I think that 3riol adequately filled in what I was trying to say. My point is more that the terms chosen don't really make sense when you consider the product. Taurus makes sense, because the meaning of the word and the goals of the product are united in some way. That's why for Christian terms I used terms that would be difficult to apply sensibly to a product, so that those who are not informed of Buddhism would understand the absurdity of the names given.
I understand that words are more than their literal meanings, and that is why I voiced my concern about nonsensible usage of them corrupting language. What's the point of having these terms, whose intent is to sufficiently represent a complex idea in the name of expediency, if their meanings are all jumbled? While I don't expect someone to say, "Zen? You mean that MP3 player?" I don't see the value in picking such names for products other than to encourage ignorance and misunderstanding. What type of thinking person would want that?
I'm not too certain about religion being eclipsed, especially given the great growth of Buddhism in America within the past century. However, perhaps the distinction must be made that Buddhism advocates science and rejects dogma, trusts in experience and values wisdom that accurately reflects reality.
Indeed, for Buddhists the goal is not a Heaven but rather an appropriate understanding of reality that allows a person to live without the sufferings brought about by ignorant attachment to changing, impermanent people and things, along with eliminating the poor choices that result from a failure to understand the interdependency of beings and objects in existence through belief in a seperate, persistent ego, soul, or independent essence of some sort.
As to what "god" might be to Buddhism, that is a subtle understanding that varies between sects and teachers. Suffice to say that what is generally held among the various sects is that there is no omnipotent personal creator acting upon the world who serves as a final judge.
contemporary use of religious language in products
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This is a bit off-topic, but sparked by the poster's question.
I find it interesting that a term describing the cessation of the craving that leads to suffering should be applied to a question about purchasing electronic gadgets. I know that we're all geeks here, but shouldn't some thought be put into the use of language?
For instance, Rio names their products after terms like meditation (Zen) and the law of casuality (Karma). Why are these religious terms trendy and marketable? I find it all the more confusing that the terms should be borrowed from a religion that largely stands as an antithesis of consumerism.
Perhaps for some this situation will not seem like a big deal. What would consumer reponse be like if a company released products called "Prayer" or "Theosis"? Of course, the term Heaven is often applied to various topics, but hasn't such simple usage eroded some of the meaning and profundity of the concept itself?
Sorry if my tone comes off as bitter -- I just think that this is something important to think about. I'm not saying that these people are blasphemers and heretics but that more thought should be put into the usage of religious terminology, especially in tech products, of all things.
What I find odd is that despite this release being focused on patching security vulnerabilities there's no noticable mention on the web site of the importance of this update. I leave my home page set to the FireFox page in hopes that there will be a clear message saying if there's a need to upgrade, but the page itself only says 0.9 -- and I'm fairly confident that the average user isn't going to figure out the difference from the front page (which now says 0.9.3, but how many users are aware of what version they're using?) It wasn't until I read slashdot that I was made aware of the release of this security update, and who knows if something could have happened since then?
While I don't expect a windowsupdate.com for Mozilla, being that a main criticism of users is their failure to keep software updated why don't the developers make it more clear that an update is even present?
Sorry for not being more clear. By "decently" I mean that one should be able to navigate through the starting area without bumping into railings or falling off ledges. Of course, there's no guarantees on later in the game...
I have gamma set to normal, also, and I certainly can't see enemies hiding in the shadows. But I can't imagine that the way my monitor brightness was set before could possibly have been the way it was meant to be played; I was using the flashlight almost the entire time, and that's just a little too much strain for my eyes.
My brightness is set to the same level as I would use for any other game, and it's definately not at the point where white is too brilliant or colors are faded. I would assume that having a level that allows one to see decently at the beginning installation section should be acceptable. I hope that the next patch includes a reference image for gamma / brightness like RTCW. But yeah, I keep the lights off and have my surround sound loud!
Yeah, the single player game is great. I'm decently far in (I have the BFG) and I'd have to say that the atmosphere and tension are excellent. I'll be moving slowly through an environment, wondering where the next group of enemies will pop up, and then something will happen and I'll find myself in an intense fight. The beginning of the game has a lot of smaller encounters -- don't worry, the difficulty and intensity continues to escalate throughout the game. While the game itself tends to be fairly linear, I think it's understandable in that it's more of a methodical, horror type game that makes use of scripted effects and sequences to heighten the tension and terror. At the point I'm at I feel constantly nervous with a sense of foreboding; while I've been scared I haven't jumped out of my chair (unlike my girlfriend, who had to stop playing)
I have played 4 player DM with my friends and I have to say that it's a blast. I've always preferred smaller DM (I don't see the point in spawning, killing a guy who happens to be next to you, then dying quickly), and the well designed DM maps are very fun to play on. I've had a good mix between surprises and insane firefights (wait until you try berserk mode!)
Regarding how well it runs: I have an Athlon XP 1600+ with 512 MB of RAM and a Geforce FX 5700 Ultra. I can play in 1024x768 at medium quality with high effects and only experience some occasional stuttering. One of my friends has a similar computer with a Geforce4 MX and he says that 800x600 at medium runs very smooth.
All in all, I'm very pleased with this game and would say that it definately lives up to the hype. Make sure your monitor brightness is set to a decent level -- at first I had mine way too dark, and the game wasn't nearly as enjoyable. You should be able to see your environment without a flashlight. Also be sure to set your system to surround sound in Control Panel->Sounds and Audio->Volume Tab->Advanced, as the game doesn't support EAX and its autodetection or whatever.
I used to play that way and think that it was way too dark, also. I finally turned up my monitor brightness and the game is much more enjoyable. You should be able to see your environment fairly well and only have to resort to the flashlight for dark (unlit or barely lit) places. I can definately appreciate the environments, animation, and effects much more now. It's too bad the game doesn't have a darkness calibratior graphic like Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
When I was in Japan last Fall looking for a cell phone, I only managed to find a single plan that came with a free phone. Pretty much every plan required that a person either purchase a phone ($75-$250) or already have a compatible phone to use. They were remarkably nice phones, though, with very large, bright displays in extremely thin packages. While I don't have a phone in the US, I haven't seen anything like what I saw over there here.
Slashdot Mirror
Explicit instruction is absent because of the necessary requirement that the world be morally ambiguous if people are to truly have free will. The presence of moral ambiguity in the world and the problem of evil is to give all people a choice. God wants humans to love God by choice, and to be free from compulsion. Such is the significance of the story of Christ resisting the three temptations in the desert.
I think that Dostoevsky puts forth the most succinct and beautiful understanding of this difficult concept in The Brothers Karamazov in the chapter The Grand Inquisitor.
I would seriously consider it if I could purchase a headless mac. I know that the G4 cube is out there, but it's a little dated for me now (I do audio work and would love to try Logic, which is probably better suited towards faster systems). I have a nice monitor and thus no real need of a new flat screen display. Either getting one of those new dual core G4s or else one or two G5s for the cost the monitor would have added in would be nice. It'd be nice to see a system that was between the entry level consumer and hardcore user category, either at the same price point or slightly lower than the current flat screen G5 iMacs.
I do have two questions for Mac users: it appears that most Macs don't support >2.1 channel audio unless it's optical. I have a 4.1 system that accepts front and rear 1/4" inputs, and I have no desire to purchase a new audio system just to retain surround sound. Is it the case that Macs don't support this out of box? I know that upgrading to an optical system would be nice, but I don't have the money to do that and retain the same level of audio quality and volume that I have now. I know some PC boards with onboard audio can use the microphone jack as a 2nd phono out for the rear channel, but I'd prefer to keep it since I use the microphone.
Also, how is multilingual support on OS X? I speak / read / write Japanese and I know that while OS X has Japanese support, I haven't been able to find out how exactly it is implemented. Is it similar to the Microsoft IME (where one can type in romaji using an English keyboard), or does it require a Japanese keyboard? Does it have a feature where I can draw kanji to look them up?
Thanks.
Haha, that actually is a good point -- but while we do get the occasional stinker, most of the people who come in this area are normal sized. It tends to be those people who have the will to play DDR, and they seem to be sensible enough to have deoderant. Perhaps Pittsburgh is an anomaly, though. But yes, you do have a reasonable point, because there were some complaints about a particular player smelling not too pleasant. Luckily, I wasn't present at that lan.
I've helped out a bit with some medium sized lans, and the organization that I participated in eventually merged with the Pittsburgh Lan Coalition, whose most recent lans have been rather large (100+ people).
One occurance of note is that at the first larger lan party they held power became a big issue. They had rented out a large area in a hotel and had gotten detailed specifications on power availability, but it ended up not being accurate. The hotel split the cost of generators in order to allow the event to occur. One guy ended up with a burnt motherboard from the flucations, unfortunately.
Another thing to consider is security. At larger events when people's nerves are shot from way too much CS (combined with sleep deprivation), bad situations can develop. Luckily, that hasn't been too big of a problem. However, there has been one occurance of theft. Pittco managed to secure a number of sponsors who donated video cards, games, and other equipment to be given out as prizes. At the most recent lan one person was moving his prize, a set of speakers, out to his car. He went back in to get his computer and when he came back his speakers were nowhere to be found. So perhaps having somebody not only to act as a bouncer but also as an overseer during the takedown phase would be a good idea.
Another security related concern is that you should really be aware of who all is attending, and to have contact information for all persons involved. This is useful in case something bad should happen (perhaps someone destroys another person's computer and then leaves), and also in other possible situations (during one lan a nearby convenience store was robbed at gunpoint, and the police wanted to get contact info for everybody at the facility just in case).
I'm not sure what happened about insurance -- perhaps the hotel included that with the room rental. I really don't know, but you could probably post on their forums and get a response. I do know that prior to merging into Pittco we had to give up having lans at our established facility because of liability concerns. But that facility wasn't exactly a hotel or convention type area, either.
The biggest draw seems to be the tournaments, especially for CS. It's unfortunate that some people leave the event after their clan loses. And being that HL2 will only have CS:Source for its multiplayer aspect, I don't doubt that CS will continue to be a driving force in lan parties. You'd do well to decently manage a tournament for CS, and people will find ways to distract themselves while waiting. I haven't seen many people play RTS's, and if they do it's usually Starcraft. Setting up a TV or projector with DDR also helps to provide some atmosphere, and makes for a fun tournament, too!
It doesn't hurt to have some creative uses for the prizes, too. At the first large lan party we had there was a video card left over (a Radeon 9700, I believe) and it was decided that it would be given to the person with the worst video card. A poor guy with a Geforce 2 MX ended up leaving with a nice upgrade.
For communication, setting up a Teamspeak server and an IRC server seems to work well. The last two large lans haven't had internet access, which wasn't really a big deal for people. most people use it to download pr0n and warez, anyways. Oh yeah -- secure your servers. You'll always end up with one script kiddie who wants to port scan and cause trouble.
For hardware, be sure to test out servers beforehand and ensure that they can adequately handle the load. Good networking equipment is a must. Keep one server as a file server and load it up with all the latest patches that people may need. Some people like to bring laptops and would like to have wireless, but I don't see the point in having more than one computer at a lan party.
Keep the pizza coming. You'll be surprised how much is consumed (and try to keep it warm with an appropriate device, if possible). Drinks like Bawls and Mt. Dew are often well appre
Oops, the second paragraph should say: "in the world (especially China)"
Earlier, the president of Opec said oil prices were at "crazy" levels, but that Opec was powerless to cool the market. "There is no more supply," said Opec president Purnomo Yusgiantoro.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/ 3529976.stm
OPEC has increased oil production to record levels...Petrologistics said all 10 Opec producers have already been producing oil far in excess of official quotas, Middle East Newsline reported. The report said that with the exception of Saudi Arabia, OPEC members have little or no spare capacity left. http://216.26.163.62/2004/me_oil_09_09.html
Indeed, the resource situation is quite poor. Now, some might stick a tinfoil hat on me for mentioning this, but are you familiar with the concept of peak oil? Basically, it's that given all the oil reserves on the planet there is a limit to the amount of oil that can be produced per day, given the deterioration of fields. Oil production follows a bell curve: at first, oil is very easy to get out, with light oil right near the top. As time progresses and that easy to get oil is depleted, the fields must be altered if they are to continue to produce at the same rate, usually by injecting saltwater or other compounds to push the oil upwards. Unfortunately, this also causes rapid degradation as pumps begin to pump more and more water than oil.
Based on research and media reports, the global output of oil is expected to peak around the year 2008. The implications of this are severe, for demand in the world China is escalating at a rapid rate. Consider that not only cars but military machinery run off of petroleum products. Consider that most crop fields in America are so destroyed that they require massive amounts of petroleum based fertilizers and insecticides to maintain production. Consider that interstate commerce is fueled by trucks on oil. How will people get to work from the suburbs? How will food be produced at an adequate rate to meet demand (this is how overpopulation will be addressed)? How will the interdependence of states be altered when goods cannot be transferred?
Rail seems like a good option for transferring people and goods, but the rail system in the US is rather poor. For alternative energy resources there is a great push towards fuel cells - which simply store energy. Furthermore, the primary method of producing hydrogen for these fuel cells is from natural gas, another source that follows the bell curve in production and is already in decline (check your heating bills last year).
To me, preparation for the peak oil phenomenon helps explain a number of US actions in the current and past administrations. Be it securing interests in Iraq, in Georgia (Clinton years - this is a bipartisan problem, of course), wanting to drill in the Alaskan reserve (might not be a tremendous amount long term, but it will make the peak last longer before decline), AIDS money to Africa (and their oil fields)... the foundation of a growing economy is built upon the ability of a nation's people to both produce and consume. Without transportation, food, and the energy requirements that go into the American lifestyle, what will happen to the economy?
Nations traditionally stock up a reserve of oil for the coming winter; however, between the disruption of gulf coast production from hurricanes and the instability of the middle east, this winter could prove to be a difficult one. China is already buying up oil left and right to fuel its growing automobile industry, when they haven't yet realized that the age of the automobile is rapidly coming to a close. Meanwhile, the US secures valuable middle eastern reserves and places them in the hands of American companies, ensuring that if there is a next world war the opposing side will be running on an empty tank.
Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheik Ahmad Fahad al-Ahmad al-Sabah said Wednesday the cartel agreed to the decision to raise output by nearly 4 percent, adding it would take effect Nov. 1... The move will increase OPEC's self-imposed output lim
Ah, that's awesome. I missed that golden age of synthesizer discovery, but I guess my benefit now is the powerful world of soft synths (and the wave of retro synths isn't too bad). Still, I'd love to get into actually making synths. It sounds fun and challenging. Can you recommend any resources for synth design, given a person unfamiliar with electronics? (probably too much to ask!)
Yes, an excellent point. I should have been more specific when stating "other techniques": effects like reverb and acoustic / environment simulators can be used to expand the sound. Yet many electronic musicians will employ a compressor on a drum beat and the result can be a more lively and interesting sound, depending on the characteristics and tweaking of the compressor.
Your comment seems to show a belief in you that music made on traditional instruments and in traditional settings is somehow better than music that uses electronics and mastering. How does a drum machine or synthesizer fail to represent a musician's emotion and feelings? Isn't it just another instrument that expands the possibilities of music present to the musician?
You say that a concert hall possesses a dynamic sound. While I don't know of recordings where I can change my position (live music is another matter entirely), is the skilled architect of a concert hall to be seen as better than the engineer who masterfully uses compression, eq, and other techniques? Aren't they both shaping sound? Perhaps you are only listening to electronic music and not thinking about it? I know from my experience, and the experience of others that I have introduced to classical music, that it takes time to appreciate the subtleties and nuances of sound and form present there. Some people may be surprised to learn that such nuances are present in electronic music, too. Something interesting is that different pieces of electronic equipment have very different characteristics. It's akin to a composer choosing between a number of possible performers or playing in a variety of concert halls.
I know that you didn't state this, but I know that many people think that making electronic music is somehow easier than playing a traditional instrument. Well, take out some keyboards or fire up some soft synths and try to put something together. Not only do you have to be able to play these digital instruments and understand how to express yourself through them, you have to know how to design instruments (adjusting oscillators, applying filters, etc), how to layer instruments properly (so that instruments can be heard properly in a mix), how to engineer the environment (appropriate effects and reverb, in addition to compression), and how to tie everything together (be it stringing together diverse equipment or fooling around with cable connections in Reason). So, an electronic musician -- even though they may be able to put a song together by themselves -- must not only be a musician, but an engineer, an architect, and a conductor (in a sense). Does this make an electronic musician better than a traditional instrumentalist? Is a person a better guitarist because they build their own guitars and venues? I wouldn't say so, but aren't such diverse talents to be respected? It's challenging to create a drum kit, to tweak velocites in a synth bass line, to understand a particular synthesizer enough to engineer powerful sounds from it.
(and yes, I know that wasn't your point in particular, but I figured that I'd take the opportunity to address this rather common issue that does play a role in the traditional vs electronic debate)
I ask these questions as an avid listener of renaissance and baroque music, along with trance and electronica. I use a tube bass preamp, but solid state for the main. I make electronic music with Fruityloops, but I also love my classical guitar. I don't see traditional music as being better than electronic, or vice-versa -- what is to be respected is the skill and expression of the artist: I listen to music for the music, not for how the music was made. If you simply don't like genres of electronica, that's fine -- I don't really like Opera. But to dismiss not only a number of genres, but an entire method of producing music, is to do yourself a great disservice as both a musician and a listener.
You could either have helped me or else made a proper argument in Slashdot's defense. But this sort of response is, unfortunately, typical of the mindset here.
This is a problem that's been occuring more often lately, and despite the fact that in situations like this the people speaking up against biased comments in the news text are often rated high, I still see such things occuring at an unacceptable rate. The message that this sends to me is that Slashdot doesn't care about its readership, and would rather use their news site to espouse their own opinions under the guise of news than treat subjects and matters fairly.
How does your reply help this situation for anybody? My point isn't about whether Real is right or not in the opinions of others. It's about maintaining fairness and journalistic integrity on a news site, and keeping opinions to the public discussion where they can be discussed and appropriately moderated as the community has always done. Are you not concerned with the quality of a site that you rely upon for information?
Ultimately, I see Slashdot as a valuable resource with a dedicated and brilliant community. The comments that I read on articles often rank as important (if not more important than) the articles. It is because I value Slashdot that I voice my distaste when situations like this arise. If anything, my question regarding alternative sites is as much rhetorical as a normal question. Where else can I go for tech news coupled with such a knowledgable community? I'll admit that I was writing a bit out of frusteration in my last post, and I apologize for that. But I still think that my point remains valid: that at first glance I was going to pass up an article that ended up being very informative to me, soley because of an opinion in the headline. Perhaps that's just my fault, but as I said, should there not be a sense of integrity in presenting stories and interviews?
(Perhaps I've simply been trolled, but it would not surprise me if there were many who had the same thoughts as the above poster.)
I wholly agree. I have to admit that after reading that comment in the description I told myself, "Ah, just more Real antics," and was about to skip the story entirely. Yet I decided to read the interview and I found his responses to be excellent. Even after having experienced so many problems with past Real software, I'm willing to give their new services a shot. I think he did a great job explaining what Real's vision is and it's very much helped their image in my mind. Perhaps some people might call that PR, but to me it seemed legitimate and sincere.
It's a shame, because I very much value Slashdot as a resource for keeping up with the latest and most interesting tech news, but I'm seeing more and more of this bullshit that would be better posted as a comment (that can be moderated) than as a description in the story.
I've been reading Slashdot for a number of years now (not my first id) and while I'd hate to leave it, the quality of the site has degraded significantly over time. Can anybody recommend a similar tech site that has some scruples about how they report?
I think that 3riol adequately filled in what I was trying to say. My point is more that the terms chosen don't really make sense when you consider the product. Taurus makes sense, because the meaning of the word and the goals of the product are united in some way. That's why for Christian terms I used terms that would be difficult to apply sensibly to a product, so that those who are not informed of Buddhism would understand the absurdity of the names given.
I understand that words are more than their literal meanings, and that is why I voiced my concern about nonsensible usage of them corrupting language. What's the point of having these terms, whose intent is to sufficiently represent a complex idea in the name of expediency, if their meanings are all jumbled? While I don't expect someone to say, "Zen? You mean that MP3 player?" I don't see the value in picking such names for products other than to encourage ignorance and misunderstanding. What type of thinking person would want that?
I'm not too certain about religion being eclipsed, especially given the great growth of Buddhism in America within the past century. However, perhaps the distinction must be made that Buddhism advocates science and rejects dogma, trusts in experience and values wisdom that accurately reflects reality.
Indeed, for Buddhists the goal is not a Heaven but rather an appropriate understanding of reality that allows a person to live without the sufferings brought about by ignorant attachment to changing, impermanent people and things, along with eliminating the poor choices that result from a failure to understand the interdependency of beings and objects in existence through belief in a seperate, persistent ego, soul, or independent essence of some sort.
As to what "god" might be to Buddhism, that is a subtle understanding that varies between sects and teachers. Suffice to say that what is generally held among the various sects is that there is no omnipotent personal creator acting upon the world who serves as a final judge.
This is a bit off-topic, but sparked by the poster's question.
I find it interesting that a term describing the cessation of the craving that leads to suffering should be applied to a question about purchasing electronic gadgets. I know that we're all geeks here, but shouldn't some thought be put into the use of language?
For instance, Rio names their products after terms like meditation (Zen) and the law of casuality (Karma). Why are these religious terms trendy and marketable? I find it all the more confusing that the terms should be borrowed from a religion that largely stands as an antithesis of consumerism.
Perhaps for some this situation will not seem like a big deal. What would consumer reponse be like if a company released products called "Prayer" or "Theosis"? Of course, the term Heaven is often applied to various topics, but hasn't such simple usage eroded some of the meaning and profundity of the concept itself?
Sorry if my tone comes off as bitter -- I just think that this is something important to think about. I'm not saying that these people are blasphemers and heretics but that more thought should be put into the usage of religious terminology, especially in tech products, of all things.
Please consider the above comment. There's no sense in promoting the misunderstanding of basic scientific concepts on Slashdot.
What I find odd is that despite this release being focused on patching security vulnerabilities there's no noticable mention on the web site of the importance of this update. I leave my home page set to the FireFox page in hopes that there will be a clear message saying if there's a need to upgrade, but the page itself only says 0.9 -- and I'm fairly confident that the average user isn't going to figure out the difference from the front page (which now says 0.9.3, but how many users are aware of what version they're using?) It wasn't until I read slashdot that I was made aware of the release of this security update, and who knows if something could have happened since then?
While I don't expect a windowsupdate.com for Mozilla, being that a main criticism of users is their failure to keep software updated why don't the developers make it more clear that an update is even present?
Sorry for not being more clear. By "decently" I mean that one should be able to navigate through the starting area without bumping into railings or falling off ledges. Of course, there's no guarantees on later in the game...
I have gamma set to normal, also, and I certainly can't see enemies hiding in the shadows. But I can't imagine that the way my monitor brightness was set before could possibly have been the way it was meant to be played; I was using the flashlight almost the entire time, and that's just a little too much strain for my eyes.
My brightness is set to the same level as I would use for any other game, and it's definately not at the point where white is too brilliant or colors are faded. I would assume that having a level that allows one to see decently at the beginning installation section should be acceptable. I hope that the next patch includes a reference image for gamma / brightness like RTCW. But yeah, I keep the lights off and have my surround sound loud!
Yeah, the single player game is great. I'm decently far in (I have the BFG) and I'd have to say that the atmosphere and tension are excellent. I'll be moving slowly through an environment, wondering where the next group of enemies will pop up, and then something will happen and I'll find myself in an intense fight. The beginning of the game has a lot of smaller encounters -- don't worry, the difficulty and intensity continues to escalate throughout the game. While the game itself tends to be fairly linear, I think it's understandable in that it's more of a methodical, horror type game that makes use of scripted effects and sequences to heighten the tension and terror. At the point I'm at I feel constantly nervous with a sense of foreboding; while I've been scared I haven't jumped out of my chair (unlike my girlfriend, who had to stop playing)
I have played 4 player DM with my friends and I have to say that it's a blast. I've always preferred smaller DM (I don't see the point in spawning, killing a guy who happens to be next to you, then dying quickly), and the well designed DM maps are very fun to play on. I've had a good mix between surprises and insane firefights (wait until you try berserk mode!)
Regarding how well it runs: I have an Athlon XP 1600+ with 512 MB of RAM and a Geforce FX 5700 Ultra. I can play in 1024x768 at medium quality with high effects and only experience some occasional stuttering. One of my friends has a similar computer with a Geforce4 MX and he says that 800x600 at medium runs very smooth.
All in all, I'm very pleased with this game and would say that it definately lives up to the hype. Make sure your monitor brightness is set to a decent level -- at first I had mine way too dark, and the game wasn't nearly as enjoyable. You should be able to see your environment without a flashlight. Also be sure to set your system to surround sound in Control Panel->Sounds and Audio->Volume Tab->Advanced, as the game doesn't support EAX and its autodetection or whatever.
I used to play that way and think that it was way too dark, also. I finally turned up my monitor brightness and the game is much more enjoyable. You should be able to see your environment fairly well and only have to resort to the flashlight for dark (unlit or barely lit) places. I can definately appreciate the environments, animation, and effects much more now. It's too bad the game doesn't have a darkness calibratior graphic like Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
When I was in Japan last Fall looking for a cell phone, I only managed to find a single plan that came with a free phone. Pretty much every plan required that a person either purchase a phone ($75-$250) or already have a compatible phone to use. They were remarkably nice phones, though, with very large, bright displays in extremely thin packages. While I don't have a phone in the US, I haven't seen anything like what I saw over there here.